Israeli shells kill Lebanese farmer
Israeli warplanes pummeled a small village in Iqlim al- Tuffah, Lebanon, with air-to-surface missiles April 2 and then shelled the area, killing a 33-year-old farmer. Tel Aviv claims that Loueizeh village - the focus of the bombing - was a stronghold for Hezbollah guerrillas, but the village was all but deserted. That evening Hezbollah returned fire into territory occupied by Tel Aviv. Hezbollah was formed by fighters in Lebanon who opposed the 1972 Zionist troop occupation of southern Lebanon, which was aimed at putting down resistance of Palestinian guerrillas.

The day before the Loueizeh attack, Tel Aviv claimed to endorse a UN resolution demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, but only with conditions unacceptable to the Lebanese government: that Beirut organize to "protect" Israeli territory. Lebanese information minister Bassem al-Sabei said the Israeli demands were like "punishing the resistance that fought for Lebanon, and rewarding Israel's allies." Hezbollah secretary general Sheik Hassan Nasrallah also rejected the Israeli conditions, saying, "The only logical and acceptable solution is an unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from our land."

Turkish prisoners revolt
Inmates in jails across Turkey held protests, took guards prisoner, and burned jail cells March 31 to protest the transfer of prisoners at Buca jail. Prison officials said 12 warders and 11 guards where seized by inmates in Bursa in western Turkey, as well as 11 prison staff in Istanbul and four others in an Ankara jail. Fourteen warders were taken hostage in Cankiri and Sakarya. According to Reuters news agency, some of the inmates involved in the actions belong to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front.

Copper miners strike in Poland
Workers at the Rudna mine in Poland, the largest copper mine of the KGHM company, went on strike at the end of March. The call for strike action by the Solidarity union was overwhelming voted up by the 4,400 workers at Rudna March 30. They are protesting a company "restructuring" plan that includes transferring many of the 20,000 KGHM miners to lower-paid jobs in KGHM-owned subsidiaries. The current action was sparked by management's attempt to transfer 23 miners at Rudna to a mine construction affiliate. Workers at the company's two other mines took a strike authorization vote April 2. KGHM produces 3.5 percent of the world's copper.

Yeltsin threatens to dissolve Russian parliament
Russian president Boris Yeltsin is threatening to dissolve parliament if it does not approve his appointment of Sergei Kiriyenko as the country's new prime minister. Yeltsin had dismissed his entire cabinet March 23, with the exception of Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev. Under the country's constitution, the president can demand new parliamentary elections if his nomination is rejected three times.

The legislature is scheduled to debate Kiriyenko's nomination April 10. Kiriyenko is seeking to curtail protests called for April 9 by the trade unions who are demanding payment of back wages of $9.5 billion this year. The government has retreated on a plan to cut 208,000 state jobs that been announced by Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin during the last week of March.

Communist Party gets highest vote in Moldova elections
The Communist Party in Moldova won that country's March 22 elections with 30.1 percent of the vote, or 40 of the 101 parliamentary seats. The Democratic Convention, a backer of swift market reforms, came in second with 19.2 percent. The Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova and the Party of Democratic Forces won 18.2 and 9 percent respectively. The Communist Party says it is for a state-run economy and closer political and military ties with Moscow. That party's leader Vladimir Voronin was a former Soviet interior minister. The standard of living has plummeted in Moldova since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Madrid detains `ETA suspects'
The Mexican government on April 3 expelled two men accused by the Spanish government of involvement in the Basque independence movement. Miguel Echevarria Iztueta and José María López González were detained by Mexican officials two days earlier for supposedly lacking proper travel documents. Spanish cops immediately arrested the two men upon their arrival in Madrid. Spanish authorities claim the two belong to the ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom), an armed organization fighting for the self-determination of the Basques, an oppressed nationality in northern Spain and southern France. The Mexican government has returned four other accused ETA members to Spain since last November.

Venezuelan workers strike
Workers at Venezuela Aluminum Corp. went on strike in early March to protest sell-off of 70 percent of the state- owned company, scheduled for March 25. They are demanding a productivity bonus of $1,150 and a 12 percent wage increase. Venezuela Aluminum is one of the world's largest producers of that metal. Alfredo Rivas, an official of the state holding company CVG, of which Venezuela Aluminum is a subsidiary, said a bonus for the workers was "absurd." But the strike's impact forced the demands into a March 23 shareholders' agenda.

Bolivian gov't provokes unrest
Ten thousand farmers blockaded Bolivia's main highway April 2 in Chapare, an area 400 miles east of the Bolivian capital La Paz. They were demanding the government finance projects to replace the coca leaf planting it is destroying with other viable crops. Government troops broke up the protest action, firing tear gas and rubber-coated bullets into the crowd. Two protesters were killed and 17 were injured.

The same day 150,000 public school teachers and health workers throughout Bolivia went on strike demanding a raise in the minimum monthly wage, which now stands at $47. Thousands of cops were deployed into La Paz and other cities by the Bolivian government.

Clinton pushes `anticrime' move
Flanked by Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, U.S. president William Clinton issued an executive order April 5 to permanently bar the import of some 58 "assault" weapons. Presidential advisor Rahm Emanuel described the step as part of a "comprehensive anticrime strategy." The White House sought to tie this move to professed concern over the recent incident in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where two boys, aged 11 and 13, opened fire on a school yard, killing four female classmates and a teacher.

- Brian Taylor  
 
 
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